


Equilibrium

by darkcyan



Series: Tumblr Fics [10]
Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-27 00:17:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18293033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkcyan/pseuds/darkcyan
Summary: Being a stage manager is stressful at the best of times.





	Equilibrium

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://cyanmnemosyne.tumblr.com/post/136053277503/ok-i-was-thinking-about-a-horrible-exorcists-high) in December of 2015. Beginning has been very slightly edited to make it better stand alone.
> 
> **Disclaimer** : About the closest I've come to theater production is a friend of mine who has told Stories about stage managing; any inaccuracies here are solely my own. :)

Being a stage manager is stressful at the best of times, and Matoba's need to make sure that every detail is sorted out just so just make it worse. So while he might flirt back at Natori earlier in the semester – or even insert a “flirting with you? me? whatever do you mean?”-style innuendo at particular appropriate times to catch him off guard hilariously - as the semester rolls on, Natori’s attempts at flirting are much more likely to be responded to with a growl and a grumpy request to just concentrate on his damn job than with reciprocation. 

(But they’ve been through a few shows together by now, so Natori understands this, and even appreciates that Matoba trusts him well enough to not feel like he has to tread lightly with him, like he does with certain _other_ people.)

Honestly, it’s how their thing started becoming more of an actual _thing_ than just Natori’s reflexive reaction to meeting new people and Matoba’s enjoyment of needling reactions out of people –

Natori noticed how Matoba got more stressed and busier as the semester wore on.  Well, _anyone_ could have, honestly, which is why it was puzzling and sort of infuriating that no one else seemed to. 

So he’d start interceding with the other actors when he saw drama incoming, smoothing out hurt feelings and gently digging for the real source of the problem with that sparkly smile that none of them could resist

(there was a _reason_ he was the lead, after all)

– and just occasionally, when Matoba caught him at it, he’d smile. 

Natori tucked those smiles away, but better yet were the times when he caught the problems soon enough that even Matoba hadn’t noticed them yet. 

(These times were few and far between, because Matoba noticed pretty much everything.)

Occasionally Matoba would find a can of his favorite brand of soda in his corner, still cold. (And never on top of scripts or bits of costume or anything _actually_ important.)

As the semester wore on, Natori started deliberately loitering, long past when the other actors had left. 

Perhaps a better person would have convinced Natori to go ahead and leave – to go home, get something to eat, get a good night’s sleep, maybe catch up on his homework. 

Matoba was not a better person.  If Natori was going to stick around, he could make himself _useful_. 

So he ran errands, and mended costumes, and learned a bit of stage construction –

(and always made a point, if they stayed too late, of forcing Matoba to sit down and eat _something_ with him, even if that something was a cup ramen from the vending machine just outside the school cafeteria)

– and Matoba would quiz him, occasionally, on his lines, because he better not be slacking off on _that_ just for this, but Natori could always deliver them, pitch perfect, with all appropriate emotional weight, regardless of whatever else he was up to at the time. 

They never talked about it.

They never needed to. 

(Everyone else kind of wishes they would, though, because as soon as the pressure’s off, the flirting just starts right up again where it left off and. don’t they want to move _on_ from that?  Isn’t it exhausting to just stay in the same relative position to each other, neither approaching closer nor pulling away?  At the very least, it’s exhausting to watch and speculate about!)

(But they’d never say anything, either, because did _you_ want to get the stage manager mad at you?  Even if he’d never _say_ so, he’d get that edge to his smile, and suddenly you’d find yourself with the worst jobs, or the chorus would find itself in need of a spare member and let’s see if your understudy is sufficiently prepared – just in case, you understand.)

(And Natori would just sparkle at you, until you weren’t sure what you’d asked and you’d _definitely_ forgotten why you cared.)

(And somehow the stage manager would find out anyway – not because Natori told him, you were fairly certain of that much; you weren’t sure they actually did speak, except in innuendo and double meanings and orders.  But just because the stage manager _always_ found out.)

So really, it was just best to let things lie. 


End file.
